Bifurcatel undergarment



Dec. 22, 1936. L. LESAVOY BIFURCATED UNDERGARMENT Filed Feb. 4, 1936INVENTOR ISADORE L LESAVOY Patented Dec. 22, 1936 UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

The invention relates in general to bifurcated under-garments of thetype commonly identified as panties, bloomers, trunks, pajamas andlikefeminine articles of apparel.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an improved,simplified, easily constructed under-garment of the type outlined whichwill provide a fashioned fit form to snugly fit the crotch of the wearerwithout binding and on the contrary to provide for a freedom of movementon the part of the wearer without rubbing or chafing by the garment andat the same time provide for the smoothness of outer contour andelimination of bulky or raised parts required by present fashion inwomen's clothing.

Apparel of this character as heretofore constructed developed a line ofweakness along the seams at the crotch portion of the garment, with theresult that any abnormal strain would cause the garment to tear alongthe line of courses of the fabric forming the crotch portion and thisweakness became more prevalent with the prolonged use or age of thearticle.

Accordingly another object of the invention is to provide a form ofconstruction of thecrotch portion which-would tend to strengthen andreinforce these regions of weakness so as to prolong the life of thegarment and at the same time avoid any necessity for providing extra orreinforcing material which would add bulkiness to the parts reinforced.

Broadly, this aspect of the invention is obtained by disposing thecrotch seams at an angle to the texture of the fabrics which form theseams. Differently expressed the disclosure herein features the cuttingof the edges of the several sections of material which form the crotchportion of the garment along biased lines so that strain on the finishedseams will extend across both the woof and warp lines of the fabric.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in partobvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawing and in part willbe more fully set forth in the following particular description of oneform of mechanism embodying the invention, and the invention alsoconsists in certain new and novel features of construction andcombination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 shows in full lines a tubular blank folded flat andconstituting a body portion and in dotted lines the opposite ends of thecrotch forming section of the finished garment illustrating a preferredembodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of one of the two identical sections which formthe crotch;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the crotch forming portion made fromtwo of the sections shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a detailed view in elevation of the lower right hand portionof the tubular blank shown in Figure 1, looking at the same from thelower right hand side of the figure;

Figure 5 isa sectional view taken on the vertical medial plane of thecompleted garment; and

Figure 6 is a view in front elevation of the garment shown in Figure 5with the crotch portion elevated to show opposite ends thereof.

The garment is formed primarily of two major parts, a knitted tubularmember l0 shown in plan in Figure 1, and a crotch forming portion H. Thecrotch forming portion is formed of two similar sections l2, one ofwhich is shown in Figure 2.

The tubular member II) when laid fiat as shown in Figure 1 has astraight lower edge I 3 and a slightly inclined upper edge l4 cut on thebias from the original cut of the material indicated by the dotted line.This has the effect of making the front shorter than the rear so as tobring the completed garment slightly higher at its rear portion than atits front portion. The lower edge i3 is slit at diametrically oppositeportions along intersecting curved lines l5 and I6 to form a front notchl1 and a rear notch 18, both of curvesided V-shape or parabolic formshown in Figure 4. It is a feature of this disclosure that the lines l5and I6 are cut at an angle to the line defining the woof I 9 and to theline forming the warp 20 of the fabric. While these may be alongstraight lines preferably they are of slightly concaved' form shown inthe several figures.

The main body forming member In is preferably formed without the sideseams usually found in garments of this character and for this reason isshown herein to be a seamless tube of knitted material. In the finishedgarment this member l0 forms the front 2|, the rear 22, sides 23 and 24and all of the legs 25 and 26 except that inner portion of each legwhich is continuous with the crotch portion. It is noted that the notchor recess I8 at the rear of the garment is of greater depth than therecess ll at the front of the garmerit so that in the finished structurethere is more material provided to form the deeply bellied rear 22 thanis need to form the more or less flat front 2|.

Referring to either one of the two sections which go to make up thecrotch portion shown in Figure 3, it will be noted by specific referenceto the showing in Figure 2 that the section I2 is of quadrilateral formhaving a long straight edge 21, extending parallel to the courses 28 ofthe fabric, the end edges 29 and 30 are slightly convex, being smallsegments of large circles and in each case extend from the opposite endsof the straight edge 21 forming included angles therewith which arerelatively large; in the case of the edge 30 being about or slightlymore than ill and in the case of the edge 23 being slightly less than90. The edge 30 is materially longer than the edge 28 and these edgesare so cut that they fit respectively in both dimension and curvature ofangle with the edges of the slits l1 and IS. The fourth or top edge 3|shown in Figure 2 opposite the long edge 21 is of parabolic form andextends from the longer edge 30, forming a relatively small includedangle at 32 and sharply rounding therefrom in a concave curve with itsrelatively flat end portion 33 meeting the shorter end edge 29approximately at right angles thereto.

In forming the crotch portion ll, two of these sections are sewedtogether along their two concaved edges 3i to form a seam 34. As thusformed the crotch portion II will have a configuration with pointedends, the included angles of which are in each case materially greaterthan 90 and are bisected by the line forming the seam 34 as particularlyshown in Figure 6.

The pointed or arrow end 35 at the rear of the garment is wider than thearrow end 38 at the front of the garment. The pointed end 38 is fittedinto the V-shaped notch l1 and is secured to the tubular member ID bymeans of a seam 31. Similarly the wide arrow end 35 of the crotchsection is fitted into the rear notch l8 and is secured to the bodyportion by means of a seam 38. It is a feature of this disclosure thatthe seams 31 and 38 extend at an angle to the courses of the material inboth the body portion l0 and to the courses in both of the sections l2which go to make up the crotch portion H. The upper edge 14 isconventionally gathered and provided with an elastic to form a reducedwaist 39.

While the invention is complete as thus far described, the presentdisclosure features additionally a structure to give shape to the leg.This is obtained by the peculiar shaping of the crotch forming sectionparticularly shown in Figure 5. It is noted that the edges 29 and 38converge downwardly so that the lower ends of these edges are closertogether measured along the line 21 than the upper edge. Differentlyexpressed the horizontal length of the section l2 gradually decreasestowards the lower edge 21 and this has the effect of drawing the edge I5from the positon it originally occupied, as indicated by the dot anddash lines in Figure 5, to the position occupied by the seam 36, thishaving the effect of gradually decreasing the diameter of the leg to theminimum diameter at its lower edge and incidentally giving shape andform to the entire lower portion of the leg. A hem or binding 40 definesthe lower edge of each of the legs and in each case extending along theedges 13 and 21.

It is appreciated that in those cases where extra reinforcement isrequired in the crotch portion, the section l2 may be made of twothicknesses of material. While it would not form a structure with all ofthe advantages herein claimed, it is obviously within the scope of theinvention to make the crotch section of one piece of material and cut tothe form shown in Figure 3 in those cases where it was desired for anyreason to eliminate the seam 34. While the present disclosure featuresthe use of a one-piece tubular member ID it is obviously within thescope of the disclosure to form the body portion 10 of two or more partsseamed together to form the tubular structure.

The present disclosure permits the designing of the crotch formingportion to give the requisite material to form the bottom or rearportion 22 with the relatively fiat front portion 2| and at the sametime to locate the juncture point ll in a relatively lowered positioncompared with the confirmation at this point of garments now known. Bythe proper locating of the point 4|, that is by the proper forming ofthe edge 29 and its associated notch l1, the necessary fullness can begiven to the crotch and at the same time there is eliminated the usualtendency of such garments to rub or bind against the user at this point.It simply requires a.judicious selection of length and form at the frontedge 29 of the crotch section to raise or lower the point H as may benecessary to provide the desired smoothness of fit to the differentlyconformed body portion of the different purchasers.

The present disclosure has economic advantages when made as a factoryproduction on large scale, in that the same size tubular member 10 such,for instance, as a 34 inch tube may be used to form different sizedgarments, the variation being made simply by varying the dimension ofthe relatively small crotch forming portions. The tubes when piled inflat condition can be readily cut to form the V-slits in front and rearand likewise the component crotch forming sections can be easily cut inbulk so that except for the gathering at the top, the complete garment 1can be fabricated simply by forming three seams 34, 31 and 38.

In use, articles of this character as heretofore constructed had atendency to tear along the seam lines 31 and 38, but in this case theseseams extend diagonally on the courses of the material, both in the bodyportion and in the crotch form portion and this disposition of the seamsacts to resist such tearing possibilities.

I claim:

A bifurcated under-garment comprising a body portion forming the front,back, sides and the front, outer sides and rear of the legs of thegarment, and a crotch portion completing the normally concealed innersides of the two legs, the body portion consisting of a knitted tubularmember initially having a straight lower edge and said lower edgeslitted at its front and rear centers along bias lines and spread apartto form V- shaped front and rear notches at diametrically oppositepoints'in the lower edge, said crotch forming portion comprising twosimilar sections, each of said sections being of quadrilateral form,having two opposing long and two relatively short edges, one of the longedges of each section forming the bottom edge of the inner side of theassociated leg and the other three edges being each cut on the bias withthe two short bias cut edges being curved and seamed to the body portionand the long bias cut edge being also curved and seamed to the companionsection, the crotch forming portion having wide-spreading pointed ends,each forming an included angle materially greater than 90, one of thepointed ends being wider than the other, fitting in and seamed to thebias cut lines forming one of the notches and. the other pointed endsimilarly fitting in and seamed to the bias cut lines forming the othernotch, whereby the crotch-forming portion is secured to the tubularmember by seams all of which extend at angles to the texture of all ofthe fabric which forms the seams.

ISADORE LAWRENCE LESAVOY.

